One aircraft of the third flight was forced to make an emergency landing and its crew was captured by the French. When the 1,000-kilogram (2,200 lb) bomb that it was carrying detonated in the water only 50 feet (15.2 m) from the side of the ship, the resulting shock wave badly damaged two Corsairs parked on the deck and severely shook the ship. Gruppe/StG 2) began their attack, led by Paul-Werner Hozzel. While at anchor in Portland Harbour on 17 October, one of her boats foundered 50 yards (46 m) short of the ship in heavy weather; 29 men lost their lives. Vice Admiral Sir Bernard Rawlings, commander of Task Force 57, ordered the recently arrived Formidable to join the task force to replace Illustrious on 8 April. The light AA guns managed to sever its port wing so that it missed the ship, although its starboard wingtip shattered the Type 272's radome mounted on the front of the bridge. She displaced 28,000 tons and carried up to 57 aircraft, including about 33 to 36 in her armoured hangar (depending on type). She returned to Norfolk on 9 December, to rendezvous with Formidable, which had also been repaired there, and the carriers sailed for home three days later. [56], Some important modifications were made to her flight deck arrangements, including the installation of a new aft lift and modification of the catapult for use by American-built aircraft. [94], List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy, 1940 Illustrious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, Subsequent operations in the Mediterranean. The 16th January 1941 would mark the start of the first air raids on the Maltese Islands by the German air force - the Luftwaffe - and what happened over the next few days would become known as the 'Illustrious Blitz'. Illustrious, the second of the three Invincible class aircraft carriers, was laid down at Swan Hunter on the River Tyne in 1976 and launched in 1978. [14] These changes increased her aircraft capacity to 57[17] and caused her crew to grow to 1,831. It also blew a hole in the hangar deck, damaging areas three decks below. [7], The ship had three Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving one shaft, using steam supplied by six Admiralty 3-drum boilers. The hangar was 456 feet (139.0 m) long and had a maximum width of 62 feet (18.9 m). Lord Mountbatten was assuming command on 28 Aug 1941, although he never actually skippered her. Preventing this required a preemptive invasion of Diego Suarez scheduled for May 1942. HMS Illustrious (1941) 452 x 92: HMS Illustrious (1944) 901 x 183: HMS Illustrious (Aircraft Carrier) 945 x 453: HMS Illustrious (Aircraft Carrier) 887 x 357: HMS Illustrious 1941 {Aircraft Carrier) 1695 x 860: HMS Illustrious R87 1940 [Aircraft Carrier] 1865 x 856: HMS … Lord Mountbatten was assuming command on 28 Aug 1941, although he never actually skippered her. On the night of 15/16 December, Illustrious collided with Formidable in a moderate storm. Repairs were made in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where her destroyed aircraft were replaced and augmented by twelve additional Martlet II fighters from HMS Archer, while two Martlet I aircraft were, in turn, transferred to Archer, bringing Illustrious's total aircraft complement to 47. [71], Together with the Unicorn, she sailed for the Mediterranean on 13 August to prepare for the landings at Salerno (Operation Avalanche), reaching Malta a week later. One Fulmar was lightly damaged during the battle. 104–105, 108–110, Brown 1971, p. 246; Brown, J. D., p. 48; Friedman, p. 147; Hobbs 2013, p. 90; McCart, pp. During 12 days of training in September, she completed 950 daytime and nighttime arrested landings and 210 helicopter landings. She next put to sea on 24 April 1953 for trials and did not resume training pilots until the following month. [70], On 26 July, she sortied for the Norwegian Sea as part of Operation Governor, together with the battleship Anson, the American battleship Alabama, and the light carrier Unicorn, an attempt to fool the Germans into thinking that Sicily was not the only objective for an Allied invasion. [42], While en route to Alexandria the ship's Fulmars engaged four CANT Z.506Bs, claiming three shot down and the fourth damaged, although Italian records indicate the loss of only two aircraft on 12 November. As a consequence, her flight-deck armour had to be ordered from Vítkovice Mining and Iron Corporation in Czechoslovakia. Over the next several months she conducted deck-landing practice for Avenger and Seafire pilots before starting a short refit on 2 April. These were 'U'-shaped beams that extended from the side of the flight deck into which aircraft tailwheels were placed. Her complement was sharply reduced by her change in role and she retained her aft 4.5-inch guns. 472–73, Brown 1971; pp. While the precise details on activities of the carrier's squadrons are not readily available, it is known that the commanding officer of 854 Squadron was forced to ditch his Avenger on the morning of 27 March with the loss of both his crewmen; he was ultimately rescued that evening by an American submarine. Aircraft from 819 Squadron laid six mines in the harbour entrance while those from 815 Squadron sank the destroyer Borea and two freighters totalling 10,192 gross register tons (GRT). The multiple hits at the aft end of the carrier knocked out her steering gear, although it was soon repaired. time by changing your browser settings or contacting your ISP. Illustrious was not struck during these attacks but was near-missed several times and the resulting shock waves from their detonations dislodged enough hull plating to cause an immediate 5-degree list, cracked the cast-iron foundations of her port turbine, and damaged other machinery. Two days later, one of three Fulmars that intercepted an Axis air raid on the Maltese airfields was shot down with no survivors. Type 282 gunnery radars were added for each of the "pom-pom" directors, and the rest of the main directors were fitted with Type 285 radars. The first flight of 6 Swordfish, carrying torpedoes, unsuccessfully attacked the aviso D'Entrecasteaux, but sank the armed merchant cruiser MS Bougainville. [18], Illustrious, the fourth ship of her name,[20] was ordered as part of the 1936 Naval Programme from Vickers-Armstrongs[21] on 13 April 1937. Thanks to Aoshima for the review sample. One bomb struck and destroyed the starboard forward "pom-pom" mount closest to the island, while another passed through the forwardmost port "pom-pom" mount and failed to detonate, although it did start a fire. Her first assignment after completion and working up was with the Mediterranean Fleet, in which her aircraft's most notable achievement was sinking one Italian battleship and badly damaging two others during the Battle of Taranto in late 1940. After returning home in early 1943, the ship was given a lengthy refit and briefly assigned to the Home Fleet. HMS HOOD should have been scrapped in suit but the decision was made to complete her. [29] A few days after the Italian invasion of Egypt, Illustrious flew off 15 Swordfish during the moonlit night of 16/17 September to attack the port of Benghazi. On 1 September she hosted No. Corsair Mk II fighter of No. The HMS Illustrious (87) is the fourth ship in the British Royal Navy that is named Illustrious. Great images of HMS Illustrious during her repairs after the 10 Jan 1941 Luftwaffe bombing of her in the Mediterranean. While protecting the hangar from fire even up to relatively large calibers, only one hangar could be put on the carrier. For the next six weeks she carried out an intensive flying regime in preparation for the next operations against the Japanese together with the other carriers of the fleet. The carrier's air group consisted of 21 Barracudas and 28 Corsairs for the operation; Illustrious launched 17 of the former escorted by 13 of the latter on the morning of 19 April. She arrived at Greenock on 21 December and permanent repairs were made from 30 December to late February 1942 at Cammell Laird's shipyard in Birkenhead. All three were shot down for the loss of one Martlet. The carrier and her escorts arrived back at Trincomalee on 23 June where 847 Squadron was merged into 810 Squadron a week later. The carrier participated in the early stages of the Battle of Okinawa until mechanical defects arising from accumulated battle damage became so severe she was ordered home early for repairs in May 1945. The disabling of the HMS Illustrious on 10 January 1941 had long been credited to the Luftwaffe. A single hydraulic aircraft catapult was fitted on the forward part of the flight deck. While the island was able to recover over the next few months, as the old pattern was once again established, the ‘Illustrious Blitz’ would prove to be just a preview of the horrors the Maltese would experience the following spring, with the second coming of the Luftwaffe to the region. There have been five ships in the Royal Navy to bear the name HMS Illustrious. [45] On the night of 16/17 December, 11 Swordfish bombed Rhodes and the island of Stampalia with little effect. [87] In November the government accelerated the demobilisation of some National Servicemen and almost 2,000 men serving in the Mediterranean became eligible for release. After arriving in Trincomalee, 1837 Squadron was transferred to the Victorious. The torpedo-carrying aircraft of the first wave scored one hit on the battleship Conte di Cavour and two on the recently completed battleship Littorio while the two flare droppers bombed the oil storage depot with little effect. Mussolini declares war on Great Britain and France. The Vichy French-controlled island of Madagascar stood astride the line of communication between India and the UK and the British were worried that the French would accede to occupation of the island as they had to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina in 1940. [37] Three additional Fulmars had been flown aboard from Ark Royal a few days earlier, when both carriers were near Malta; that brought its strength[36] up to 15 Fulmars, 24 Swordfish, and two to four Sea Gladiators. [33] She sailed from Alexandria on 6 November, escorted by the battleships Warspite, Malaya, and Valiant, two light cruisers, and 13 destroyers, to provide air cover for another convoy to Malta. The noise of the on-coming first airstrike was heard at 22:25 and the anti-aircraft guns defending the port opened fire shortly afterwards, as did those on the ships in the harbour. [6], The 753-foot (229.5 m) armoured flight deck had a usable length of 620 feet (189.0 m), due to prominent "round-downs"[Note 1] at each end designed to reduce the effects of air turbulence caused by the carrier's structure on aircraft taking-off and landing, and a maximum width of 95 feet (29.0 m). 25–26, Brown 1971, p. 257; Brown, J. D., p. 81, McCart, p. 26, Brown 1971, p. 257; Brown, J. D., p. 81; Hobbs 2013, p. 91; McCart, pp. In early 1941, X. Fliegerkorps, a formation of the German Luftwaffe that specialised in anti-shipping operations, was transferred from Norway to Sicily to support the build-up of the Afrika Korps. [89] Illustrious resumed her duties in early 1949 and conducted trials and training for Avengers, Fireflies, Gloster Meteors, de Havilland Sea Hornets, Vampires and Seafires. [69], After a farewell visit from the Eastern Fleet commander, Admiral Sir James Somerville on 12 January 1943, Illustrious sailed for home the next day. Her exact speeds were not recorded as she had her paravanes streamed, but it was estimated that she could have made about 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) under full power. Two months later the … Her beam was 95 feet 9 inches (29.2 m) at the waterline and she had a draught of 28 feet 10 inches (8.8 m) at deep load. This event was also the first landing of any turboprop aircraft aboard an aircraft carrier. [75], On 10 June, the Illustrious and the escort carrier Atheling put to sea to simulate another airstrike on Sabang as a means of distracting the Japanese while the Americans were attacking airfields in the Mariana Islands and preparing to invade the island of Saipan.